A major championship actually broke out in the midst of the Tiger Woods furore
here on Saturday.

As the debate raged whether the world No 1 should or should not have been disqualified, the duo of Brandt Snedeker and Ángel Cabrera stole into the lead of the 77th Masters.

With 14 players within five of the lead, the prospects of a dramatic shoot-out remain enticing. Despite his two-shot penalty, Woods is only four back and still in touch after a battling 70 which summed up his competitive spirit, if not his belligerence. The naysayers insist this would be a 15th major with an asterisk – that would not bother him one jot.

To achieve his first Masters in eight years, Woods will have to leapfrog names of the calibre of Adam Scott on six under and Jason Day on five under. The two Australians are both desperate to end their country’s void in this event, but Scott’s insistence last night on mentioning Greg Norman’s blowout in 1996 did not inspire too much hope. And then come the two pacesetters – one ranked fifth in the world, the other 269th.

With respect to Cabrera, the evergreen Argentine who only seems to contend these days at this, one of two majors he has won, Snedeker must be the favourite. His putting touch was born for the sublime but treacherous slopes of Georgia as he displayed in his 69 which carried him to seven under. “I know I can beat anyone at any time,” he said, sounding every bit the champion elect.

Alas, the challenge of Rory McIlroy is most definitely over after a 79 cast him adrift on five over. British prayers rest with Lee Westwood, whose indifferent 73 left him on two under, in a tie for ninth, alongside the remarkable German veteran Berhard Langer.

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Westwood could not make inroads in his one-over round which featured two bogeys and a birdie on the ninth. But he was far from despondent as he maintained the dream of a first major for himself and a first Masters for Britain in 17 years.

“This was a 73 which could have been a 70 but I still feel like I have chance,” Westwood said.

Justin Rose could harbour no such ambition after a 75 left him too far back on level par. That his putter has once again let him down is revealed by the fact that nobody has hit more greens in regulation than the Englishman.

McIlroy and Luke Donald are all but on their way home. For the former this was just his latest Masters misery as he came back in an horrendous 42, with a treble bogey on the 11th and a double bogey on the 15th which left him 12 behind. Donald fared slightly better with a 75 to stand at two under.

“The course is definitely playing tougher,” Donald said, after his round of four bogeys and just the one birdie. “The greens were firmer and quite a bit faster.”

Sandy Lyle added following his 81: “The greens are getting ridiculously fast now. It’s almost going to become a bit like Disney World if they’re not careful.”

It was an ironic statement as many here were coming to the opinion that the handling of Woods’s two-shot penalty would have embarrassed even Mickey Mouse. Typical of the man, he battled his way through a storm of controversy to post a 70 to move to three under and make himself a factor for today.

Woods trod water on the opening nine, but came back with three birdies for an inward 34. If he is to prevail, however, Woods will have to what he has never done before. In all of his 14 major victories, Woods has been in the lead entering the final 18 holes.

If only that was all he was forced to contend with. When he stepped off the course on Saturday he was faced with an inquisition demanding to know why a) he had not been disqualified for the infringement the day before and b) why he hadn’t decided to withdraw to “protect the integrity of his sport”. For Woods it was simple.

Yes, he had made a mistake in where he had dropped his ball after hitting it into the water on the 15th during the second round, but he had done so unwittingly. After a tip-off from a TV viewer, the Augusta rules committee had reviewed the incident on videotape before Woods had finished his Friday round and reached the verdict that he had complied with the rules. Woods thus signed for a 71, not knowing it should be a 73.

That only came to light after he revealed in a post-round press conference he had dropped “two yards further back” from the original spot to get the right distance on his shot. The rules committee discovered the contents of Woods’s self-damning comments later in the evening and only then realised a transgression had occurred.

But as they had rejected the opportunity to advise Woods of his mistake before he signed his card, they concluded they could evoke the recent rule change which gives them the power “to waive the penalty of disqualification in extreme circumstances”.

So Woods could play on with his two-shot penalty and quite rightly, too.

Woods said: “I’m right there in this ball game.” And however vehemently they wanted that statement to be different, nobody could deny it.